Sunday , December 8 2024

Ministers to BAN schools from teaching sex education to children aged under nine with teachers urged to tell pupils that gender ideology is a ‘contested belief’

Schools are set to be banned from teaching sex education to children before the age of nine.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan will unveil proposals tomorrow for a total ban on the subject for infant children, with lessons not permitted to start until at least Year Five.

Ms Keegan is also set to rule that gender identity is a ‘contested subject that should not be taught’ in schools.

Parents will also be given the right to see the material their children are being taught.

In a surprise move, ministers have decided to make the guidance statutory, meaning that schools will have to comply by law.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan will unveil proposals tomorrow for a total ban on the subject for infant children, with lessons not permitted to start until at least Year Five

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan will unveil proposals tomorrow for a total ban on the subject for infant children, with lessons not permitted to start until at least Year Five

Parents will also be given the right to see the material their children are being taught. File pic

Parents will also be given the right to see the material their children are being taught. File pic

One government source said Rishi Sunak believed the rules around sex education for the youngest children needed to be made ‘much tougher’.

Under the current rules, ‘relationships education’ begins when children start primary school at the age of four and can be supplemented with sex education using ‘age appropriate material’.

The Prime Minister ordered a review after Tory MPs produced evidence that ‘age-inappropriate, extreme, sexualising and inaccurate’ content was being taught to young children across Britain.

In a letter to ministers, Mrs Keegan has said sex education will ‘not be taught before Year 5’ – which consists of nine and 10 year old pupils.

Government sources last night confirmed that a new age limit would be imposed for teaching sex education, but said the precise age was still being finalised.

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The new guidance will also make clear that the content of sex education lessons must be based on ‘scientific’ fact.

As such, schools will be instructed not to teach gender ideology – and if the subject arises, they must make it clear that it is a contested belief.

Once children reach the age of nine, they will be taught the basic factors  of conception and birth in order to stay safe.

They will be taught how to set ‘appropriate boundaries’ and how to report something which concerns them, The Times reported.

When they reach age 13, they can be taught about contraception, STIs and abortion.

They may also be taught about domestic violence, coercive control, and sexual violence.

After Year nine, children can be told that pornography can lead to them having ‘distorted’ views of themselves. 

And those aged 11 will be taught that sending naked photographs of someone under 18 can be a criminal offence.

They will also be taught about sexual harassment, revenge porn, forced marriage and grooming. 

A No 10 spokesman said: ‘We have always been consistent that the idea that someone can have a gender identity different from their sex is a contested political belief that must not be taught as fact in our schools.’

Since September 2020, Relationships, Health and Sex Education has been compulsory in schools. In primary schools, pupils must be taught ‘key building blocks of healthy, respectful relationships’ as part of the national curriculum.

At the time, the Department for Education said sex education would not be compulsory at primary schools, but admitted – and recommended – that many choose to do so. Guidance on their website suggests content will be ‘tailored to the age, physical and emotional maturity of their pupils’.

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Mr Sunak’s review of such lessons came after more than 50 Conservative MPs told him ‘children are being indoctrinated with radical and unevidenced ideologies about sex and gender’.

The Prime Minister ordered a review after Tory MPs produced evidence that ¿age-inappropriate, extreme, sexualising and inaccurate¿ content was being taught to young children across Britain. Pictured is Rishi Sunak

The Prime Minister ordered a review after Tory MPs produced evidence that ‘age-inappropriate, extreme, sexualising and inaccurate’ content was being taught to young children across Britain. Pictured is Rishi Sunak

Tory MP Miriam Cates told the Prime Minister that youngsters were being given ‘graphic lessons in… what passes for relationships and sex education in British schools’, including material on oral sex, violent practices and claims that people can belong to any of a bewildering 72 different genders.

‘Across the country, children are being subjected to lessons that are age-inappropriate, extreme, sexualising and inaccurate, often using resources from unregulated organisations that are actively campaigning to undermine parents.’

It prompted a vow from Mr Sunak to protect Britain’s ‘precious’ children.

‘First and foremost as a parent, it’s really important that what our kids are exposed to, not just at school but online, is sensitive and age appropriate,’ he said last year.

‘Our children are precious, they deserve to be protected. Families up and down the country are concerned about what their children are seeing online and they expect me and the government to put in place protections for that. That’s what we are going to do.

‘What I want is a curriculum that is sensitive and age-appropriate. Our children are precious; they deserve to be protected, sensitively. That’s what I want as a parent first and foremost.’

In October Mrs Keegan wrote to schools demanding they share sex education materials with parents.

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She said: ‘No ifs, no buts and no more excuses. This government is acting to guarantee parents’ fundamental right to know what their children are being taught in sex and relationship education. I’m writing to schools and parents to debunk the copyright myth that parents cannot see what their children are being taught. Parents must be empowered to ask and schools should have the confidence to share.’

Ahead of the guidance being issued, Mrs Cates said: ‘For too long activist groups have been pushing a politically motivated agenda on children under the cover of RSHE. We need compulsory guidance to restore common sense and the rights of parents to know what their children are being taught.’

And fellow Tory Nick Fletcher added: ‘Our schools, and what they have been teaching children about sex and gender, have played a role in funnelling vulnerable children towards a pathway of irreversible damage.

‘Such has been the reach of the gender ideologues that there is not one simple ‘quick fix’. Education Ministers are well aware that action is needed. Officials have been working on solutions. Some have been long promised. But it is taking too long – we need to act now.’

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